Tons of biohazardous waste are generated daily by hospitals, veterinary facilities, universities, and government agencies. Conventional autoclaves and sterilization techniques attempt to disinfect or sterilize the bio-waste but have several significant shortcomings. Either the waste does not get completely sterilized or an undue amount of handling and energy is used to effect satisfactory sterilization. Also, conventional equipment for sterilizing bio-waste often requires intensive human intervention to handle the bio-waste or to initiate the various decontamination steps to be performed by a conventional machine. Conventional bio-waste sanitation equipment also tends to be cumbersome and occupy a significant amount of floor-space or ground-space, an undesirable characteristic in many compact settings, such as private clinics, airport concessions, cruise ships, and military deployments.